Center-To-Periphery Arterial Stiffness Gradient Is Attenuated and/or Reversed in Pregnancy-Associated Hypertension.

ABSTRACT: Background: Non-pregnant (NP) women have a progressive increase in arterial stiffness from central-to-peripheral arteries ["stiffness gradient" (SG)], which is of physiologic importance since excessive pulsatility is filtered by the creation of wave reflections. If the aorta gets stiff with minimal or no change in the periphery, the SG is dissipated transmitting pressure disturbances to the microcirculation. It remains unknown the status of the SG in both women with healthy pregnancies (HP) and complicated by pregnancy-associated hypertension (PAH). Objective: To determine whether HP and PAH are associated with changes in SG. Secondarily, we aim at identifying potential differences between the subgroups of PAH (pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension). Methods: HP (

SUBMITTER: Pereira MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8739768 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature